News
World

Members of the Cowboys and Indian Alliance, a group of ranchers, farmers and indigenous leaders, participate in protests against the Keystone XL pipeline at the Reflection Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on April 24, 2014. (REUTERS/Gary Cameron)

WASHINGTON — It's a court case that could punt the Keystone XL project back to square one — and yet it has nothing to do with the proposed pipeline's merits.

On Friday, Nebraska's top court will hear arguments about which arm of the state government has the power to approve Keystone's route through the state.

This latest legal battle comes after a trio of Nebraska landowners — backed by green groups — won a constitutional challenge earlier this year against the law that allowed Gov. Dave Heineman to approve Keystone's route through the Cornhusker state.

The state appealed the ruling, bumping the issue up to Nebraska's Supreme Court.

Domina, a lawyer who represents the landowners, said the seven justices won't give any deference to the lower court win, and the highly technical legal arguments have little precedent in case law.

"(The court) has before it a very interesting legal puzzle," he said.

The arguments will hinge on whether state lawmakers were right to transfer approval authority for the pipeline to the governor in 2012 and away from the independent Nebraska Public Service Commission.

The $5.3-billion pipeline project has turned into a political lightning rod, pitting the pipeline's backers against environmentalists. And the battle is increasingly focused at the state level, away from Washington.

The proposed 1,897-km, 36-inch-diameter pipeline would carry up to 830,000 barrels of Alberta crude a day to Steele City, Neb., and then on to Texas Gulf Coast refineries.

The State Department has placed the federal approval process on hold until the Nebraska court rules on the issue — a process expected to delay any decision until after the November midterm elections and possibly into 2015, adding to the already nearly six-year delay.

If Nebraska loses its appeal, TransCanada will be have to re-apply for state approval through the Public Service Commission.